Troop withdrawal from Iraq

[Cafe Americano]

Should the demand for troop withdrawal from Iraq start now, or later? How vocal should it be, and what if Bush refuses?

[Igel]

1. Apart from voters not voting for * again--something that's

a given, since he's not eligible to stand for election again--Congress has exactly two ways of forcing the US out of Iraq.

(1) Deny funding. That will force a withdrawal. It also puts the entire responsibility for withdrawal on the heads of the congressfolk (and senators, to a lesser extent) that vote for such a bill. That might be a good thing, but if 500k are killed in a civil war (as opposed to "die from the conditions present during a civil war") it might be a bad thing.

(2) Trade off investigations and the like for withdrawal. I don't think that would be very popular among many dems, and the WH might not accept the offer.

[blindpig]

2. I'll take curtain #1, Igil

Anything less is flat out betrayal of their supposed mandate. Speculation about the effects of a withdrawal is just that. Hyperbole about 500k dead as a result our withdrawal is likewise hyperbole and naught but an excuse to stay the course.

It's shit or get off the pot time for the Dems on a range of issues. Put up or shut up.

[Xenotime]

3. agreed.

[bemildred]

4. It is better to do things in an orderly fashion.

It is better if arrangements are made to fill the vacuum we will leave behind us. We owe the Iraqis at least an attempt to do that, we have fucked them over enough already. If such efforts fail, or are stalled, or stonewalled, then it would be time to consider attempting to force withdrawal. In the meantime, the troops should not be put in harms way with bullshit "operations" to "win" or obtain "victory", etc.

[Barack_America]

5. All voices seem to agree that withdrawal is the priority...

-The Iraqi government says, "we want more power in our hands"

-The American people say, "we want our troops home"

-The troops say, "we want to go home"


Seems like withdrawal is the only plan. The question is "how quickly?". However, I'm sure that with Levin as the Armed Services chair, the push will be for sooner rather than later.

[FtWayneBlue]

6. I agree with Seymour Hirsch:

There are two accecptible deadlines to get out of Iraq:

Midnight tonight or

Midnight tomorrow night.

[mtnsnake]

7. Yes, the demand should start now. We won both houses & the priority is Iraq

I'm surprised there hasn't already been more of a demand from our leaders on this. So far all I've heard is how our people want to get along with the Republicans, but haven't heard so much on withdrawing from Iraq.